


Snap: The (Mis)Adventures of One Curse Breaker and His SHIELD Agent

by EliMorgan, GaeilgeRua



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Crossover, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Mild Language, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Some Spoilers, Temporary Character Deaths, slowish burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-18 18:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20196319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliMorgan/pseuds/EliMorgan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaeilgeRua/pseuds/GaeilgeRua
Summary: Straight out of a contentious divorce and attempting to raise his young daughter, the last thing Bill needs is another complication.When problems with Apparition throw him into the path of a certain SHIELD agent, however, he begins to  realise that 'complicated' might not be so bad...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Marvelously Magical Fanfiction's 2019 Roll-a-Partner event, as a collaborative work between two authors! We used the prompt XO12: "This wasn't how Apparition was supposed to work. And why did they keep landing on the same person?"
> 
> Thank you to our Alpha/beta for all of their hard work.
> 
> **Disclaimer: We do not own anything or anyone recognisable from either the MCU or HP worlds. We make no money from this work.**

**2011**

It was Mum's fault, Bill decided, squinting down the barrel of a gun and wondering if his cast was as fast as a speeding bullet. If she weren't so bloody terrifying, none of this would ever have happened.

Everyone was scared of Molly Weasley; it was a fact of life. The sky was blue, Molly was a holy horror. And for all of the ear-piercings, pranks, and petty grievances Bill was guilty of, he'd never actually  _ angered _ her before. 

Not until now. 

The big 'D', Divorce, wasn't something he thought she would take lightly. She knew that he and Fleur were separated, of course, but had no clue that lawyers were involved; remained blissfully unaware of itemised lists of their lives scattered over tables and custody battles fought before the Wizengamot. He'd begged and bribed and outright threatened reluctant family members to keep his secret, leaving his confession to him.

That's where he'd been going - to lay out the truth of his marital failure to the one woman certain to hold him to account. Having said a tear-stained goodbye to his daughter, whom he wouldn't see again until midsummer, he'd girded himself for the Apparition back to Britain, his entire body screaming for procrastination even as he visualised the Burrow in his head--

And promptly lost control of his Apparition.

Shitty as his time in France had been - Fleur crying over the paperwork, Appoline smirking in a corner, Victoire sobbing in confusion as he left her - he had no real wish to be back home, and apparently his mind had sensed that, for instead of Shell Cottage, it had thrown him somewhere else entirely: into the path of an angry brunette with a gun. Had he mentioned the gun? It bore repeating.

"Who the Hell are you?!" she snapped, her finger held steady on the trigger. On instinct, Bill's hands flew into the air; wand still clamped tightly in his left. "How did you get in here?"

"Err--" He tried for a winsome smile, but it faltered when her eyes narrowed. "Would you believe 'I don't know'? Must have taken a wrong turn…"

Her lips curled in contempt. "From where?" 

"France?" He winced when her gun bobbed. The hardness in her eyes was a threat all of its own as she aimed for his head. "Hey, hey, there's no need for that. I'm leaving."

He went for the door, but she gestured viciously with the weapon and he, wisely, stopped. "You leaving isn't the problem. It's how you got in. This is a secure base!" She slapped her hand to her belt, coming up with a clunky black object that she held up to her mouth. "Intruder in--"

"No!" The phone slapped into his free hand a split second later, leaving the woman to gape as it sparked and then died, his magic too much for its system to handle. "Sorry - automatic reflex." He should have taken the gun, instead. If he'd been thinking, he would have. As it was, he barely had enough time to throw up his strongest Shield charm and dive for the floor before bullets were flying. 

"OI! Was that really necessary?" More bullets answered, one whistling directly past his ear as he scrambled behind a chair. "Oh, for fuck's sake.  _ Petrificus Totalus _ !"

The woman straightened, teetered for a moment, then slammed down, just barely making the chair she'd abandoned when he'd appeared. Bill sneered at her, dabbing at a graze on his arm. Blood trickled steadily from the wound, staining his shirt. Bloody  _ guns _ . 

"Right," he huffed, coming to his feet and stretching. Glancing around, he took in pockmarked walls and one shattered coffee table. Somehow, he doubted they'd been like this when he arrived, unless she made a habit of workplace-shoot-outs. Miraculously, her computer was intact, though several of her papers had fluttered to the floor. 

"I'll be off, then," he told her, needlessly. She was still glaring impotently, her eyes telling the story of a hundred-thousand broken bones, but he'd seen worse.

Bill pictured his house in his mind. Shell cottage with its cosy furnishings, its plush bed - a bed he would kill for right now. Victoire had left her dolls out again, he remembered. There was one on the living room floor, right next to the fireplace, and he fixated on that spot as he gathered his magic to him, preparing for the nauseating feeling of displacement, and turned--

Only to see the woman still glaring back at him. Ah. 

He tried again, and again, until it was clear that he was going nowhere and his frustration overrode his concentration. He crossed his arms petulantly and scowled. "Alright, how do I get out of here?"

"I'm going to kill you," she said matter-of-factly when he released her head from his spell. 

"Very helpful, thanks. Remind me never to ask again." Striding over, he began to hunt through her desk, ignoring her yelps of outrage. "Calm down; I'm just looking for a way out. I don't care about - whatever this is." He held up a sheet of paper detailing some sort of incident in the desert. "Magic hammer, really?"

"That's classified," she growled.

"Classified?" Bill squinted at her. "Like, the government?"

"Like SHIELD, as if you didn't know. You've broken into SHIELD."

He wasn't sure what SHIELD was, but the acronym sounded ominous. His search became more frantic until he realised that he was hardly likely to find blueprints hanging about on her desk. His eyes lit on the computer. 

"'Scuse me," Bill muttered, coming around the desk and pushing her chair out of the way. For good measure, he kicked the handgun across the room before kneeling in front of the monitor. "Agent Maria Hill," he read. "What's your password, Maria?"

There was a moment of silence, and then, "Why are you here?"

Bill swivelled on his heels. "I told you, I took a wrong turn."

"That led you to magically appear in one of the most well-guarded rooms of the most paranoid Intelligence Agency on the planet?" She sounded sceptical. He didn't blame her, not really, but…

"Well. Yeah." She wrinkled her nose in disbelief, and he sighed. "Do I look like a spy to you?"

"Yes."

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm not. I've had a long day, and I just want to go home." Seeing that she was unconvinced, he gestured across his chest. "Cross my heart."

Maria scrutinised him for a long moment before sighing to herself. "You'll never get out alone," she informed him. "There's an electromagnetic field over the entire building to prevent people from entering through dubious means. Checkpoints on every floor keep out - or in - hostiles. You wouldn't make it to the end of the hall."

Bill rocked back on his heels, blinking rapidly. "But..?" Boy, did he hope there was a 'but' coming.

" _ But _ . I'm tired, and it's late. I guess I can help you out, just this once…"

*

Three blocks from SHIELD Headquarters - located in New York, New York, typically - Bill dipped into an alleyway and pulled something from the lining of his shirt. Then another, from his shoes. And yet another, from his satchel. Holding the three metal devices in his hand, he smirked.

" _ Lumos _ ."

The smell of frying electronics preceded him as he left, but he didn't mind. It was nice to know he still had it - but why a government agent would want to bug  _ him _ was a mystery. Did it matter? Probably not. It wasn't like he was ever going to see her again, anyway. 

* * *

**2012**

The second he Disapparated from his office at Gringotts, Bill knew he wouldn't end up at his intended destination. He should have known better than to Apparate distracted as it always seemed to lead him to her, but at this point, what could he do?

He had landed heavily on Maria's lap. They stared at each other for a few seconds before they both moved, and Bill found himself sprawled across the floor at her feet.

Moving to sit up, Bill froze at the sound of an unknown male voice.

"Where the hell did he come from? How did he get past the guards?"

Bill's head dropped forward, his fang earring swinging silently from the movement. Today had been a hell of a day at work with nothing going right at all, and he was just ready to go home to a nice glass of firewhisky. But that seemed to be a far off dream for him and becoming more distant as the day progressed.

Looking up, Bill came face to face with a severe-looking black man that eerily reminded him quite a bit of Britain's former Minister for Magic.

"Oh, look," Maria said from Bill's left, finally finding her voice and cutting off Bill's thoughts. His wolf heightened senses detected just the hint of irritation in her voice as she added, "It's my guardian angel."

"Guardian angel?" Bill questioned as the other man asked, "Do I even want to know, Agent Hill?"

She turned to face the other man. "Probably not, Director." Turning back to view Bill, Maria reached down and helped him up, adding, "You really can't be doing this right now, Bill. You saw what just happened in New York the other day, right?" At his short nod, she continued, "Director Fury and I are having to deal with the fallout from that, and I can't have you barging in on our meetings."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Bill raised an eyebrow. "It's not like I do it on purpose."

"I know," she replied, "but it doesn't change the fact that you've got to figure this out and stop it. You can't keep appearing while I'm working."

"Wait a minute, Agent Hill," Director Fury said. "You mean to tell me that some random British guy has access to wherever you are?"

"Yes," Maria admitted.

"How often has this happened?"

Bill shrugged. "A half dozen times or so since it began about a year ago?" He looked at Maria for confirmation. Her eyes were unreadable.

Director Fury's intense gaze settled on Bill. "I take it that he's been the one causing the disturbances that no one can explain?"

"From what I can tell, yes."

He turned back to face Maria, and Bill felt himself relax just a fraction. "And you didn't think to tell me sooner?"

She stared at him. "And would you have believed me?"

Director Fury's gaze travelled between Bill and Maria silently as he chose his next words. Finally, Director Fury broke the tense silence, "As you know, Agent Hill, this is a serious security risk. We'll have to discuss where we go from here."

"I agree, sir," Maria replied.

"I am very sorry about all of this," Bill said, trying to take the blame off of Maria. "It's my fault this keeps happening, even if I don't know why my Apparition skills have become problematic."

"Find a way to fix it," Director Fury told him.

Bill nodded.

"Go ahead and take him to the entrance so we can get back to work."

"Yes, sir," Maria said. She grabbed Bill's elbow. "Come on."

As Bill followed Maria from the room, his heightened senses caught the nearly silent chuckle from the other man before he muttered, "This ought to be interesting."

_ That's one way to describe this whole situation _ , Bill mused to himself.

"Wipe that smirk off your face," Maria told him with a glare, "this isn't funny."

He bit the corner of his lip to stifle his smile. "I really am sorry, Agent Hill."

Sighing, Maria stopped and turned to face Bill. "I know you are, but as I said, you really need to figure this out. Because Director Fury is right, there's too much of a security risk for you to just randomly appear in secure locations when you don't have the clearance."

"I'm trying to figure it out," Bill replied. He fell silent as someone neared. Stepping out of the man's way, Bill waited for him to move out of earshot. "I've just not been able to locate any information about the issues I've been having with Apparition. There are a couple of avenues I've not tried yet, so I'll be looking into those too."

"Okay," was all she said before she turned and continued down the corridor.

*

When Bill found himself at a secluded location far enough from the building he left to Apparate from, he chuckled as he found only one bug left by the American agent. It wasn't even activated he noticed as he plucked the small silver disc from his shoulder. His smirk returned. It seemed that he was growing on her.

* * *

**2013**

Bill groaned as he finally exited George and Ron's shop, and made his way towards the Apparition spot. He honestly had no idea what he was going to do with the two of them. They kept getting their hands on things that they shouldn't, which was nothing new to him since his twin brothers had been getting into things they shouldn't since they were born, even after George lost his twin in the Second Wizarding War.

Granted it took him a few years after the loss of Fred to get completely back to his pre-war antics, but that's where Ron came in. As for his youngest brother, the things he'd seen and done during the war, and then again as an Auror gave him a new outlook on life. Bill knew they both deserved the mischievous lives they were living at the moment.

Except for that thing they had in their lab. Bill wasn't sure what it was exactly, except for it looked like one of those creatures he'd seen on the telly at the Muggle bar he would go to on Friday nights with his brothers. Since he knew it wasn't a magical creature, Hermione was out, but he did know someone that would know.

Reaching the Apparition point, Bill took a deep breath and focused on The Burrow as his destination. He disappeared from Diagon Alley, only to reappear not where he intended. Or maybe he did Bill mused as he looked around to find himself in Maria's office, only the woman in question was nowhere to be seen. With that weird elf-like creature in the backroom of the Wheezes, he couldn't think of anyone better to help him figure out how they got their hands on it.

After two years of these sudden changes in his Apparition course, Bill knew it was only a matter of time before she would show up.

Hearing the electronic beeps of her keycode, he settled down into one of the chairs on the guest side of her desk.

"Hello," he said once the door to her office was closed.

He heard her footsteps falter at the sound of his voice before she started again and rounded her desk. Dumping the paperwork in her hands onto the surface, she levelled him with an exasperated expression.

"It's been a hell of a week, Weasley," Maria sighed, "I don't have time for this."

"Trust me, I know," he replied as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You couldn't be dealing with half the craziness I am," Maria countered, sitting down at her desk before starting to sort through the folders and paperwork she brought in with her.

"Probably," Bill agreed, "but would you care to explain why my brothers seem to have the head of a weird space elf in their lab?"

Maria's head snapped up at his question. "What did you just say?"

"My brothers have the head of a weird space elf sitting in a glass box in their lab. Care to explain to me how they would have gotten their hands on one when that scene was supposed to be secure?"

"Hold on," Maria muttered. She pulled a thick folder from the bottom half of her pile, moving the rest of the stack to the side. Maria quickly flipped through the documents inside, searching for the one piece of paper she knew would have the answer to his question. Finally locating it, she pulled the sheet out and glanced over it before handing the document over to Bill. "It says right here that all bodies were accounted for."

Taking the sheet from her, Bill read it over before looking back at her with a raised eyebrow. "Obviously not everything was accounted for," Bill muttered.

"You need to get that head from your brothers," Maria told him. "Sooner rather than later."

"I'll see what I can do," he replied with a short nod. "Now that all of that is out of the way, what else do you have on your plate?"

Maria snorted. "Hell, what isn't going on?" She sat back in her chair and regarded the redheaded wizard across from her. Looking away from him, she sighed. "You know I can't tell you what's going on, no matter how much I'd like to."

Bill shrugged. "It was worth a shot to ask."

"I know, and I really do appreciate the offer," Maria said. She leaned forward, placing her elbows on her desk to ask, "Change of topic, how is your daughter doing?"

"I thought you said you didn't have time for this?" Bill questioned with a chuckle and a raised eyebrow.

Maria grinned. "I always have time for an update on your adorable daughter."

Getting comfortable, Bill updated Maria on the new adventures of Victoire Delacour Weasley.

Soon, they were trading stories about the rest of their family members, and even the latest goings-on of their jobs. What wasn't classified, of course.

* * *

**2014**

Bill  _ had _ been on his way to Hogwarts to deal with Victoire. She was usually such a good girl, but since she'd made it to Hogwarts, there had been… events. Flying toilet seat events. Jellified-bludger events. That one notable instance with the house-elf, the pumpkin, and Hagrid's chickens, which had been pretty creative if you asked Bill, but Headmistress McGonagall hadn't appreciated  _ that _ insight. This time, it was something about library books, which was tame in comparison and not something he was in a rush to attend to.

Having said that, it was still pretty irritating when, instead of landing at the gates of his old school, he found himself in a dark, windowless room filled with flashing monitors. He didn't have to check to know that Maria was in there somewhere. 

"Weasley!" her voice came urgently from the shadows. He could just about make her out; her stern features ghostly in the blue-white light. "Get over here."

Obediently, and grateful for the reprieve, Bill answered the summons. The room was larger than he'd first thought, with a handful of workers all looking at him oddly until he reached her side. 

"Back to it!" Maria snapped, raising her voice to be heard over the whirring of their computers. "I swear to god, I'm going to kill Natasha." 

"You threaten to kill a lot of people," Bill noted aloud. 

"And I always mean it, at the time." Maria flashed him one of her rare smiles, tired and drooping at the edges. She sat in the lee of an L-shaped desk; four screens positioned about her, nearly hidden by files. As Bill settled down, one of the junior agents scuttled over and dropped another by her elbow. "I love her, but…" she gestured helplessly at the tower of work. "I don't suppose there's a spell for this?" 

"There's a spell for everything." Bill picked up the sheet closest to him. Maria didn't slap his hand away, which was new, but then this information was all over the Internet; they were past the point of classification, now. Before he'd gotten the call from the headmistress, he'd been going through it himself. A curse breaker had to be caught up on world events, after all, and if he'd been more than a little concerned about Maria? Well, no-one mentioned it. "What, exactly, are you trying to do?" 

Maria swept a lock of hair away from her face irritably. 

"Rebuild SHIELD. Well, that's the aim, anyway. Eventually. For now, just attempting to find allies." Turning in her seat, she looked mournfully at a heap of paper, at least twice the size of those around it. "Those are the traitors. We're culling them even as we speak, but there are always more. We're an international organisation; that's a lot of personnel." 

Bill watched as she tossed the paper she held to the top. He pulled over the notes she'd been working on. Maria had written a pretty comprehensive list of suspicious behaviour and groups, trends that led her to the truth about her colleagues, and, scanning it, he had an idea. "Do you have another room, or is this it?"

Maria looked at him properly for the first time. "You're serious? You can actually help?"

"Might as well, if I'm here." Her face lit up with delight, and he viciously squashed the answering fondness that rose in his chest. 

"Through here." She led him back into a second, darker room, ordering out its inhabitants. "Do you need anything else?"

"If you can talk me through your notes, that would be great."

Maria did so without question. The show of trust was staggering, but Bill filed that feeling away to examine later - he didn't have the time at the moment, not if he was actually going to help. 

He used Arithmancy. Not an exact science, but more precise than anything Maria had. It was just a matter of finding the right formulae, inputting the right variables. He cut out the unnecessary babble and dug straight to the point, linking runes to known Hydra agents, suspicious personal days, workplace cliques, and assignments that no-one remembered authorising. The resulting equation was complex and tangled for all that he'd tried to simplify it. But it worked, and that was all that mattered. In this way, they sorted each of the files as they were processed by his formulae, the strings of Bill's three-dimensional model glowing red and green at intervals.

At one point, Maria discovered that one of the agents with her was Hydra, and that cut their discovery time in half: he was quickly restrained, and under threat confessed all. 

Bill must have been there for hours, but it swept by. He'd forgotten the thrill that came with honest work, knowing that everything you did contributed to the greater good. Even the oppressive suspicion that grew after they discovered the mole did not touch him - he was detached, working hard, and doing well.

Finally, Maria handed him a mug of coffee, her thigh brushing his as she sat down beside him on the floor. "Good work, Agent," she teased quietly. 

"Merlin, never call me that again, please," he snorted, the sound trailing off into a sigh. "It never ends, does it?" 

Maria's eyes lingered on the people around them, continuing to sort through files, and making call after call. The piles had shrunk substantially, yet grew still. "We've made more headway than I expected. A lot more." There was a softness in her words, and he basked in it. 

After a while, Maria muttered, "Pepper Potts just called me."

"Oh?" He slid his gaze over to her, surprised to see her twisting her fingers nervously.

Her voice was quiet, secretive. "I interviewed for a job there after--the Triskelion." He was focused on how her hand had dropped to dangle from her knee, one finger grazing his wrist, but he remembered how, just a few days ago, the news had been full of the fight in DC. Even Victoire had heard - she'd written from Hogwarts to ask him if Maria was alright. 

"She's taking me on," she continued. "I don't even know what for - some admin role, probably, but it means I have protection while all of this plays out."

"That's good," Bill murmured, trying to keep his attention on the words rather than how close she suddenly was. She wasn't even looking at him, for Merlin's sake!

"It is." Pensively, she added, "thank you, Weasley. You really came through for me."

He chuckled. "That's what friends do, Hill."

A queer expression settled over her features as her eyes finally met his. "We're friends?" The surprise in her voice nearly broke his heart.

"I certainly hope so," he replied cheerfully, desperate to break through the weird mood that had settled over them. "I wouldn't do this for just anyone."

Maria raised an eyebrow. "D'ya know, I actually think you would."

Their eyes met, and the air seemed stifling, for a moment. Something was happening…

"I'd better go," Bill said, suddenly frightened, though he wasn't sure why. He jumped to his feet, brushing off his jeans for no other reason than to give himself something to do. "I need to…"

"Yeah. 'Night."

He Flooed McGonagall once he got home and listened to her ranting, agreeing when it was called for, promising that he'd have words with Victoire, but all the while his mind was still in a tiny storeroom across the world, wondering...

* * *

**2015**

Bill knew he shouldn't be apparating, not with three firewhiskeys in his system and especially not with the way his Apparition was on the fritz lately, but it had been a while - Months! - since he'd last ended up in Maria Hill's lap, and he was just drunk enough to take the risk, given the odds. 

Or maybe, he was just drunk enough to admit he missed her.

Either way, it was a poor idea, verging on the terrible. The last thing he needed was to discard limbs across the Atlantic in a drunken haze, which was enough of a risk when sober. But he did it anyway. Why? 

Because his brothers had all gone home to their various partners, and if all he had to go home to was a cold cottage and the thought of his child in a different bloody country, then he might as well give it a go if it might provide him with company. Besides, something in his body was crying out for her, whether he consciously wanted it or not. Did that make him pathetic? It might. Did he care? Not right then. Ask again in the morning. 

The trip was nausea-inducing and just long enough to torture him with the thought that he might land only to throw up in Maria's lap, and then he was toppling onto a soft, white rug in the centre of a room that span dangerously around him. There was a collection of surprised yelps in his vicinity, and then her sharp, exasperated voice. 

"Weasley!" she snapped from somewhere above him, and was it just his imagination or was that word slightly slurred in her mouth? "Jesus. Look at the state of you!" 

"Maria?" he rubbed his hands over his face, still knelt queasily on the floor. The room was slowing, now, and the pretty colours were coalescing into faces - unfamiliar ones, of a blonde, a redhead, but no Maria. "Bloody hell, that was awful."

"Are you drunk?" Soft footsteps, and then her long, slender legs appeared in front of him, much closer than the faces. She bent down, a severe, if somewhat wobbly, frown on her lips. She held a glass of wine and was dressed in a far more casual manner than he'd ever seen previously, but then he'd made a habit of finding her at work. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, and her dainty feet were bare. Bill was strangely fascinated. "Hey!"

"Right, yeah. Words." Bill had the feeling that people were laughing at him. He looked up and realised that he was right - the blonde was giggling into her own wine glass while the redhead watched him with a funny little smirk. "Hello, ladies!"

The blonde snorted. "I suppose you must be Bill," she said, rolling her eyes up to Maria. "You never said he was pretty, Maria."

"He's not," Maria retorted. To Bill, she added, "Are you going to stay down there all night?"

"I might," he winked. "The view's not half bad. You all have lovely legs."

"Get him up, Maria, before I have to kill him," the redhead drawled, her voice dry as dust. "Don't encourage him, Sharon."

Maria grabbed one of Bill's hands and heaved, dragging him up off the carpet. Once stood, he could see that the redhead had a possessive hand on the blonde's - Sharon's? - thigh. "S'alright, love," he said grinning. "I'm a one-woman man." He went to grab Maria's hand and burst out laughing when she twisted his wrist up and behind his back. 

"Don't," she warned. Bill turned his grin on her and saw her unimpressed face waver. "Behave yourself."

"Alright, alright. Am I interrupting something?"

"Girl's Night," a smoother voice said, as a tall, delicate woman stepped into view. She smiled and offered a hand. "I'm Pepper. Maria told us about you - aren't you going to put the poor man down?"

"Warned you, more like," Maria muttered, but she dropped his wrist, and Bill cradled it to his chest in melodramatic fashion. "I knew you'd be dropping in."

"That's our bond talking," Bill leered. "We're thick as thieves, us two."

"One of us is thick. And drunk. Why are you even apparating?!" 

"I figured it had been a while since my last poor life choice," he intoned solemnly, the effect broken by his bleary smile. His brain must have tripped for a moment then, because he was horrified to hear himself say, "I missed you."

A blotchy red colour swept across Maria's face. Was she angry? "Oh, shut up," she snapped, her voice pitched higher than usual as she swept past Pepper to the bar. Pepper shot him a sympathetic smile. 

"Why don't you sit down, make yourself comfortable. Would you like a drink?" 

"Some water?" He would have to Portkey home, he reckoned, and he didn't fancy turning up at MACUSA in this state. He had a reputation to protect. 

"Oh, no, can't have that," Sharon smirked. "We're just starting. I'll have a refill, Pepper."

"I don't want to interrupt your evening, just point me to--" He took a moment to attempt to remember his destination. "London? Where's your Floo?" 

Maria snorted a laugh. "Jeez, you are drunk." He heard Sharon whisper, "Is he asking for the toilet?" 

Pepper was more sympathetic. "Why don't you stay awhile? We've got plenty of room. You can get home in the morning. Or at least when you've sobered up."

"Really?" Bill gave a lazy grin. "You're an angel."

"Great, thanks, Pep," Maria added, her tone more sarcastic than grateful. 

*

The women had not been joking when they said they were just getting started. A few hours in, Bill was a soberer and more glamorous version of himself, or so they assured him while Natasha stole the mirror. They'd had a field day painting his nails, though he didn't trust them when they assured him that this was a typical Girl's Night activity - the bottles had been too dusty for that, even if their own short, neatly kept but unpainted nails hadn't given the game away. 

"Did I ever tell you about when Tony met the new Secretary of State?" Pepper asked, somehow still keeping her composure despite the copious amounts of champagne she'd been necking. 

"I remember this," Natasha smirked, finally releasing his fingers. "That man has balls of steel."

"Of iron," Sharon quipped, and they fell about in gales of drunken laughter.

"Wait until you hear how this one-" Maria jerked a thumb at him, her eyes affectionate and sleepy, "-met Nick."

"Woah, that was in no way my fault," Bill chuckled. "I-" he was cut off by a vibration on his thigh, and looked down to see his wand glowing a bright, vivid orange. A peek at his watch told him that it was far later than he'd expected - nearly eight o'clock, British time. "Shit, I've got to go. Victoire is coming home today."

Maria's lips pursed into a disappointed moue. "Are you sober enough to travel?"

"I'll have to be." At the concern in their faces, he grinned. "Don't worry. There's just something about being surrounded by drunk spies that tends to sober a man up."

They rolled their eyes at him almost as one, but allowed him to leave via the Helipad. The trip was not as smooth as he'd like, but he made it home in time to shower and dress before Victoire was opening the front door and leaping into his arms, leaving her luggage in a heap. 

"I missed you, honey," he murmured, pressing a kiss to her crown.

"Missed you, too, Dad," Victoire replied sweetly, then frowned. "Why are your nails bright pink?" 


	2. Chapter 2

**2016**

"Well, this is a new one," Bill noted as he landed on a rickety fire escape. "Alright, Hill."

Maria shushed him without taking her eyes from the binoculars she had trained across the street. Bill scanned the area - they seemed to be sat in an alleyway between buildings, an abandoned apartment behind them, while Maria watched the brightly lit one opposite. 

"Wait - are you spying?" 

"I'm a spy, Bill, that's kind of what I do." She tried to hush him again, but he wasn't having it. 

"But aren't you Deputy Director something-something again? Do Directors spy?" Bill squinted across the street at the figure in the window. "And how old is this kid, anyway? Twelve?" 

"Fifteen."

_ "You're spying on a fifteen-year-old?" _

"Only momentarily and--Jesus, would you please sit down? You're going to blow my cover." She yanked on his belt, dragging him away from the railing. "That hair is a beacon."

The window across the street slid up, and the boy's head poked out. "Mr Stark?" 

"Sorry, kid," Bill yelled back. "Just your run of the mill government-sanctioned stalker. Nothing to see here."

"Oh," the boy pouted. "Alright, then, I guess."

"For fuck's sake." Maria yanked the binoculars off and turned to Bill. "What are you doing here?" 

"What are  _ you _ doing here?" Bill shot back. "Call me crazy, but I don't think he's a huge security risk."

"I owe Happy a favour, and he wants to watch the boxing. This one has been in trouble lately, so--no! I don't have to explain myself to you. What do you want?" 

Bill let his façade drop, his face going flat. "We need to talk."

*

Maria took him to an inconspicuous sedan parked a few blocks away. Once inside, she turned to him. "You've heard."

"Of course I've heard," he snapped. It was strange; he'd known this woman for years and only a few weeks at the same time. He didn't know her, though it sometimes felt that way. Did he have the right to be this betrayed? "How could you?" 

"The Accords--" 

"I'm not talking about the bloody Accords!" He smacked a hand against the dashboard, and the car shook around them. "Yeah, fine, make the Avengers your worldwide kill squad. Whatever. This is about the small print."

Maria sank back into her seat, the fight leaving her. "Registration."

" _ Registration _ ," he spat like it was a dirty word. "A neatly arranged index of Superhumans for your lot to pick through. You realise that by doing this, you're wrapping them up in a pretty bow to be picked off whenever the feeling takes someone?" 

"I didn't write the law," Maria told him stiffly. "But I don't disagree with it. What's your problem? These people need help, training, a safety net."

"You mean, 'these people are dangerous and need watching'. Don't pretend this is some selfless act." 

"Fine. You said it yourself - these people are dangerous. They need help, but other people need help too. Normal people, like me."

Bill snorted in disbelief. "Normal? You?" 

Maria shifted in her seat to face him, her voice earnest and pleading. "Put me in a room with Captain America, and I can fight for a while." She took his hand and said quietly, "But with someone like you? I'm dead, Bill."

"But these people aren't me. I'm a wizard - they're just skilled. Defenceless as you are, up against a mob!" 

"The world isn't like that anymore," she whispered. Her hand squeezed his, desperate for Bill to understand. Perhaps desperate to believe her own words. He peered at her, searching for a reason, and he sucked in a breath when he saw vulnerability. A brittle set to her shoulders, her eyes downcast. In their other confrontations, she had been so calm and self-assured that it shocked him to see her on the edge of breaking. 

"Maria…" he breathed, feeling the urge to take her into his arms and soothe away the fear.

"Don't, Weasley," she said, without force. He tugged on the hand she'd placed in his, needing to quench that need… but she was pressed up against her door, now, her expression wild. " _ Please _ ."

Him. She was scared of  _ him _ , and with that realisation came another, larger, more shocking. 

"You registered me."

_ Someone like you _ , she had said. It was like his heart had been submerged in ice. Maria was stern, unbending, and completely committed to what she believed in - the law, above all. How could he think she wouldn't? 

"You  _ didn't _ ," he begged, searching her face. "Please, tell me you didn't."

"I  _ had _ to," she hissed, yanking her hand away. "Everyone knows about you - it would have looked strange."

"You put me on a database without my permission? We have a Statute of Secrecy, Maria! I can't believe you would do this." He completely ignored the fact that he broke the law the second he landed on Maria all those years ago, and every some after that.

"Well, I did," Maria snapped. "It had to be done. You don't need to be like this-" 

"Take me off that list," Bill ordered, his voice dangerously low. "You had no right."

"It's my job to uphold the law," Maria replied, her words robotic. 

Bill took a deep breath, feeling rage pulse through his veins. "I should have expected this. Your life is your job, and I get that. But I don't work for you. We were friends, Maria, and you sold me out. Sold my people out. I… can't forgive that."

"Bill!" Maria reached for him, but Bill was already gone, his Apparition frying the car's circuits. She was left in an empty vehicle, her fingers stretching into thin air as the alarm blared around her.

* * *

**2017**

It had been a while now since Bill had last seen Maria. He occasionally found his apparition moving in that direction if he didn't focus hard enough, as if Maria was the sun around which he orbited, and to whom he would eventually return. 

Which was ridiculous, of course. In reality, she was just some woman he'd met when his magic went on the fritz, and it shouldn't have been anything more. It wasn't like they had a relationship beyond the occasional meeting, and she didn't even like him (which was  _ ridiculous _ ; he was handsome and funny, and  _ everyone  _ liked him, so there was definitely something wrong with her). So, he launched himself out of it, landing elsewhere - anywhere else, he didn't mind, even that time when it had been a Canadian lake in the winter and search and rescue had to retrieve him. 

His research into the phenomenon, having moved to the back-burner since it first began, was ramped up again, finding Bill poring over old werewolf journals until the early hours of the morning, searching for an explanation. It was in Remus's diaries, however, that he found the truth - a minute mention, a word here or there, of Remus falling off course and into incidents. The man had written it off as coincidence: he'd never been great at Apparation, but Bill saw the link when each time, these encounters ended with "and Nymphadora-". After days of re-reading the passages, realising he was torturing himself, Bill shoved the diaries away and tried to forget about it. 

Eventually, he found himself too busy to dwell on Maria. Victoire had recently turned fifteen and was getting into all sorts of trouble as she came into her mother's latent Veela power. Barely a day went by when he wasn't turning away some poor boy who'd come to ask for her hand - at  _ fifteen,  _ for the love of Merlin - but it wasn't them he worried about. It was the more insidious threat that concerned him - the one that was already  _ inside _ .

"Morning, Uncle Bill!"

Bill narrowed his eyes at his sister's godson as he sauntered into the kitchen, his hair a bright, taunting blue. "I didn't hear you knock, Teddy."

"Vicky said I should just come in, I'm here so much. Saves time. Is she around?" The boy was poking his head into Bill's cupboards now, rustling through his carefully arranged snacks. As a single father, his kitchen was a great source of pride for him - nobody had expected him to manage, not even for the short time he managed to keep Victoire in-house, but he had. He cooked and everything. From scratch. His mum was disgusted. 

" _ I  _ didn't say anything of the sort," Bill growled, but Teddy's heritage seemed to have made him immune to the terror of the sound, for he simply shrugged and pulled down a jar of pickles. The older man watched in horror as the blight on his house proceeded to eat them out of the jar with his bare hands, licking the juice from his fingers with relish. " _ Victoire _ isn't here."

"No?" Teddy wasn't listening; his ever-active gaze switched to the window. "Hey, are you expecting a letter?" 

Bill's heart dropped into his stomach as he watched the speck in the sky coalesce into an owl. No, he'd not been expecting a letter. Owls were  _ never  _ good; his family flooed, work had a secure drop box in his room, and McGonagall tended to use Fawkes to drop in a letter and then  _ poof  _ away, in a display of flamboyance that seemed to come with the job. An actual owl? 

"Open the window," he ordered, figuring Remus would never forgive him if he shoved his son, and they were already going to have  _ words _ when he reached the Afterlife. Amazingly, Teddy complied, and the bird came to a halt on his kitchen counter, sticking a leg out imperiously. 

He knew it was from Maria the second he opened it. Apparently, the woman couldn't step away from her tablet for long enough to hand-write a letter, typing it up instead, though she'd signed the end in her neat, blocky script. 

_ Bill,  _ it began.

_ I hope everything is alright on your end. I'm sorry about the way we left things, it was… badly done of me, to use you as I did. To say that I didn't know you then seems cheap, so I won't. But you've taught me so much, and it's true to say that I know better now than I did then. _

_ I've removed you from the register. You're right, I let my work go to my head, but now I understand that you are apart from this, as you have to be.  _

_ I made a new friend - I seem to be making those all over the place, lately, and I blame you - called Susan Bones. She says she knows you through work, and when I asked how to get in touch with you, she directed me to a man who breeds owls. He, apparently, will send my letter on some lengthy journey involving multiple rest stops and snacks though it should still reach you in a timely manner. Faster than the postman, anyway.  _

_ Don't feel obliged to reply. I know you're angry, but I needed to know you were safe. You're the only person who I can talk to, about anything, really. _

_ I didn't realise how valuable that was until it was gone.  _

_ So, thank you, Bill. Even if what we had is gone forever, I want you to know that I was grateful for it, while it lasted.  _

_ \--Maria Hill _

_ P.S. His name is Pippin, which has always been my favourite hobbit. Fate, I guess?  _

Bill dropped the letter, trying to sort through the twisted, knotty mess that had once been his emotions. He'd deliberately avoided her, assumed their association was over, that she'd move onto something new, yet… 

Before he could change his mind, and powered by something he didn't quite recognise, Bill grabbed the notepaper he kept above the fireplace. His message was short and sweet, easily folded and hidden in his palm as he shot through to his bedroom and collected a little box. He'd been given it by a tradeswoman in Moscow some years ago, along with its twin, but he'd never had cause to use it. Not until now, he supposed, as he dropped the note inside and sent it off through the Floo. Pippin, now munching cheerfully on an owl nut, cooed at him as he re-entered the room, already mentally chastising himself for his actions, going over the note in his head.

_ Maria- _

_ It would be easier if you used this. You know, if you want to write me. I won't force you.  _

_ \--Bill _

Did he come off as needy? Probably. What was needy was how he placed the matching box on the table before activating it. What was even more pitiful was him waiting and watching, as if she would have already received hers. Gods, but he was pathetic. 

Teddy seemed not to notice as, having finished the pickles, he asked, "You got any cake?" 

*

The message came in at eleven that night and was the start of a correspondence that continued far more regularly than Bill had ever visited her. It began awkwardly, with light chit chat that seemed strange, until he had scraped the bottom of the barrel and asked,  _ so what's a hobbit?,  _ at which point she'd been delighted to describe to him, in detail, about some fantastical world that only three letters in did Bill realise was fictional. From there, they spoke about their favourite books, music, shared anecdotes from their childhood, and so on and so forth until Bill realised they were sharing several letters a day and he now knew her better than he knew himself, and the feeling was mutual.

Only when he woke up one day to  _ that _ letter did he realise how far he'd fallen.

* * *

**2018**

He knew something big was going down the second he started reading the shaky handwriting of the woman he was slowly beginning to realise was his wolf's mate. He had never seen her writing that uneven before and then there were the words she'd sent him.

_ Bill- _

_ Please be careful. Things have become so much worse in the last few days, which I'm sure you're aware of. _

Bill had raised an eyebrow at that. Everyone in Edinburgh, hell all of Great Britain, was aware of what happened there less than two weeks ago.

Her next words sent a chill down his spine.

_ There's a madman hellbent on culling half of all living creatures in the universe. If the Avengers can't stop him and I don't make it, and you do, please don't do anything stupid. _

He had snickered at that line. Maria knew him so well.

_ For now, please be careful, and I will reach out to you when it's safe. Hug Victoire for me. _

_ \--Maria _

Bill just never expected  _ his _ Maria to be one of them.

He learned the hard way what it felt like to have your other half ripped from this world. At first, he thought he was about to disappear just like he watched a handful of the goblins in the main lobby of Gringotts do just seconds ago, but he quickly realised that was not the case.

"Maria," he whispered as his knees buckled underneath him, and he clutched at his heart.

*

That day, nearly six months ago, had become the worst of Bill's life. Surpassing the day he and Fleur divorced, as it was also the day his family, or what was left of them, got together and figured out who was gone.

Fleur had been the first family member he had learned of as when he returned home from the bank; he found Victoire in a heap on the floor of his living room nearly inconsolable. Once she realised Bill was with her, he learned of Fleur's fate. His only child had been visiting his ex-wife for her birthday when the French witch disintegrated right before her eyes.

Burying his own grief, for the time being, Bill wrapped his daughter in his arms and silently sat with her until she exhausted herself. He didn't offer her empty platitudes as he knew it would only make things worse when things didn't get better.

Bill knew the family needed to get together and figure out who was alive and who was no longer with them. He gathered Victoire in his arms and stood up. Looking down at the small box on the table, Bill hesitated for a split second before he grabbed it. In his heart of hearts, he knew Maria was gone, just like his ex-wife and the goblins and a few fellow wizards and witches at the bank, but he had to hold out hope.

Arriving at The Burrow, he came face to face with the chaos that only the Weasley family could create. Quickly carrying Victoire up to his old room, Bill returned to the main floor and called for order. At first glance, there were so many people missing, Percy's whole family, Charlie and his husband, Luca, both their parents, some of the Hogwarts age children, and Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Hoping against hope, Bill sent George to the Ministry to search for their father, Percy, and the trio. As George prepared to depart, Audrey came through the Floo. Percy was not with her.

Bill smiled sadly at Audrey. The third eldest Weasley son had made his fair share of mistakes over the years, including what happened during the war, but they all made mistakes, and Bill understood that better than most. Percy had tried, fairly successfully too, to mend the rift between him and the family, but there were a few that struggled to understand his reasoning in the first place.

While George was gone, Angelina headed to Hogwarts, to bring the rest of the children home. She returned with many teary-eyed teenagers as they had one less in their group. Young Albus Potter quietly informed his family that Rose was gone.

It was at that announcement that the group from the Ministry returned with Harry conspicuously absent. Hermione and Ron consoled each other and their son as Charlie, who had shown up just before the kids at Hogwarts appeared, and Ginny held each other quietly, the two united in the loss of their husbands.

The loss that hit the family the hardest was that of their matriarch. Molly Weasley. Over the years, she was the glue that kept their growing family together, and now she was gone. Bill had realised that the moment he stepped across the threshold as The Burrow felt less cheerful.

In the end, they considered themselves lucky as some people lost their whole family. As was the case of the Weasley's new charge and Albus' best friend, Scorpius Malfoy.

* * *

**2023**

Silently, Bill looked around the ground floor The Burrow. Over the last five years, his childhood home had become a meeting place for those left behind. There was always someone there, and while gatherings were more sombre than they were before The Thanos Snap, as the Muggle media outlets called the event that changed everyone's lives, they still celebrated milestones. No matter how small or the fact that the person whose favourite holiday they were celebrating was no longer with them.

It was his mum that instilled that idea in Bill and his siblings, so when they lost her and the others, they did their best to help each other through their grief. And because of that, they were all much closer than they were before.

Charlie came down the stairs, pulling Bill from his thoughts. "I think this is the last of it," the dragon keeper said as he levitated a box behind him.

"Good," Bill replied. "We can get started on the decorations in the morning."

A new voice joined the two brothers, "Decorations for what?"

"Samhain is less than two weeks…" Bill trailed off as he realised whose voice he was hearing.

Whipping around, both brothers stared in shock.

Charlie was the first to find his voice as he whispered, "Mum?"

"My boys," Molly replied just as quietly. She moved over to Charlie and wrapped him in a bear hug.

In his mum's embrace again, the words tumbled from the dragon keeper's mouth, "What happened? What are you doing here? How'd you get back?"

"I'm not really sure," she replied, pulling back to look at him. "One moment I was here and the next I was in this whole other place, unlike anything you've ever seen."

"Did you find Perce? Luca? Rose?"

"I did, yes." She looked from Charlie to Bill and back. "Do either of you know what happened in the first place?"

Charlie looked at his brother. "Bill?"

Shaking his head, he looked up. He had only been half paying attention to his mum and brother talking as he tried to come to terms with the possibility that Maria may or may not return as his mum had. His heart and inner wolf were telling him that she was, but his head kept telling him otherwise.

Trying to ignore his thoughts, Bill did his best to explain what he knew happened over five years ago.

*

Samhain was only a couple of days away now, with Molly planning one of the largest gatherings The Burrow had ever seen, even surpassing the weddings of his youngest siblings and their get together that day. Needing a place where everyone could sit together, Bill, along with Arthur and Charlie, made a large wooden table. It was that table that the family was currently gathered around on the last Sunday of October. The day had been cool, and as the afternoon wore on, Bill knew they would soon have to start casting warming charms, probably during dessert if not before.

Bill was steadfastly listening to his grandson babble excitedly as Victoire and Teddy enjoyed the adult conversation around them. Molly sat between Victoire and her great-grandson.

"Who is that?" Percy questioned across the table from Bill.

Everyone turned to face the direction Percy indicated.

Even in the disappearing light of day, Bill would recognise that silhouette anywhere. He was out of his seat and halfway to her before anyone else responded.

"Leave him be," he heard his mum say in response to Percy calling out to try and stop Bill.

"You're alive," Bill blurted once he was within earshot of her. "You're here."

"I am," Maria replied with a small smile as she took a couple of steps closer.

"Even though I could feel that you were back, I hadn't heard from you..."

"I'm sorry. We had so much cleanup and paperwork, and really I should still be there, but I had to know if you… and the others were all off to find… well, whoever they needed to find. Whoever they thought about in that last moment; whoever they would miss the most. I… I hitched a ride."

"Who?" Bill questioned as he stepped closer to her.

"Thor," Maria replied. "England was on his way to New Asgard."

Stopping a good foot from her, Bill shook his head. "No, who did you think of as you disappeared? Who would you miss the most?"

He held his breath as she stared at him. A multitude of emotions flickering through her eyes before settling on one he recognised. Hope.

She closed the distance between them. "You, Bill. It's been you since that night in New York..."

"When I blew your cover and fried your surveillance car?"

Maria scowled up at him, her brow adorably puckered. "Yes," she replied, clearly rethinking the matter.

Bill didn't give her chance to renege as he grinned down at her. "Good," he whispered before closing the last of the distance between them.

Maria grasped the front of his shirt as she returned his kiss.

They parted just enough for Bill to rest his forehead against her.

Looking into her eyes, he felt his world right itself, and his inner wolf settled down contentedly. He could hear his family in the background and knew that eventually they would join them, but for now, he was going to enjoy the nearness of the woman he loved.


End file.
